


they got it wrong

by insight_ful



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Guardian Angels, M/M, Me Neither, Possession, ever seen a gay angel?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-30
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-04-15 23:53:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14152119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insight_ful/pseuds/insight_ful
Summary: It's hard knowing that you love someone that can never feel the same-- or never even know that you truly exist. Yet, that sort of things happens at the worst of times to the best people.





	they got it wrong

**Author's Note:**

> this was supposed to be a series for taakitz week yet here i am posting the first day's work on the sixth day. i'll eventually get the rest done, i promise.

Unrequited love.

It's one of the worst things that can happen to someone, especially when you're so in love with someone despite knowing that it can never be.

Whether it's that the other already has a partner, or they'll never meet you, it hurts.

It hurts to be in love with someone. To watch them go about their life, making mistakes and experiencing some of the most memorable things that will ever happen to them. To watch from a distance, unnoticed, alone.

To watch them pave their own road into the future.

Though-- for some, the road is more of a highway.

Taako. When Kravitz first heard that name he knew to expect someone special. Not the ordinary Steve or Jane. No, Taako.

Nowadays that name is constantly on his mind, slipping its way into every nook and cranny of his thoughts. Taako, Taako, Taako. It dances off his tongue like it's meant to. Like he's supposed to be thinking about him at all times.

“Taako,” he breathes into the empty air, speaking to no one but himself.

Twenty-four years. That's how long he's known him. All twenty-four years of his amazing, complicated life. To be more exact, its been twenty-four years, eleven months, two weeks, three days, nineteen hours, twelve minutes, and six seconds.

Seven, eight, nine.

The sort of creepiness that comes with knowing the exact amount of time that he's known this amazing young man isn't intentional. That's the exact amount of time that he's been alive, as well as the amount of time that Kravitz has been his guardian angel.

The concept itself is fairly simple, really. Kravitz spends every single moment watching over Taako, ensuring that nothing life threatening happens to him until it is meant to.

See, the way a guardian angel sees the world is different than most. Over the head of those they're meant to protect floats a countdown. A countdown to the exact moment of their death. The sad truth is that once that countdown hits zero, there's nothing an angel can do to change what happens. No relieving the pain, no influencing the situation. They must sit back and watch the person that they've been aside for years as they die. Whether it be quick and painless, or long and excruciating.

For most, this is something to be seen as a moment of honor. To have protected someone their entire life, ensuring that they live to their full potential.

There are very few like Kravitz.

Kravitz, who has guarded hundreds, if not thousands of human lives by now, has never fallen in love.

He's heard tales of angels who have done so before. Some who have broken their oath and prevented the natural death of their human, and others who have been unable to guard another after the trauma of losing the one they love. 

Usually, this sort of thing is more common in the newer generations of angels. Those replacing the age old ones that have fallen. But Kravitz is not a new recruit.

Rather, he's the oldest guardian that still lives. One of the originals.

It was Kravitz that guarded Eve, the first woman, in the Garden of Eden.

Though Taako is not Eve, Kravitz is certain he may just be equally as important. Not in a biblical sense, but he is somehow destined for greatness. He's just not sure exactly what that means yet. 

If he knew, it would take all of the fun out of it. The mystery itself adds a bit of entertainment to his day, giving him something to predict and theorize. All he really has to do is get lost in his thoughts and watch Taako. While this sometimes includes catching up on shows he watches, or seeing new films, it isn't terribly often. Besides, when it does actually happen it's often on some sort of date. He spends an hour or two watching Taako waste his time on men that will either never contact him again, or are much creepier than expected.

It's a wonder that someone like Taako hasn't found the one yet. He's attractive, he's funny, and he can even be caring when the situation calls for it. Above all, he's as perfect as a human can get. Nobody holds a candle to him.

That's why Kravitz gets distracted.

Something as simple as a glimpse of a photo can take him back to that moment, where he can relive it and watch the smile spread across Taako’s features in real time.

It happens more often than he'll admit. It's gotten him into trouble more than once because of this, but that doesn't keep him from doing it.

Kravitz has a favorite photo. It's a simple candid shot of Taako on his recent vacation with his sister, taken as he's in the middle of laughing over the ice cream that had fallen off his cone and right onto her boyfriend's lap. Everything about it is beautiful. From the pier they sit on, to the seagulls flying overhead, it's comparable to the Renaissance paintings he can remember from hundreds of years ago.

It’s his sister’s lockscreen, so he sees it often enough. That would be why he’s not doing his job now, lagging behind as the twins start down the street towards their favorite bakery. Away from the park bench that Kravitz still leans over. The pair go down the sidewalk side by side just like always, nothing different than the usual day. They’re roommates, after all. They’re together all the time.

It’s times like this that Kravitz finds himself in more trouble than his thoughts are worth. When he comes to from his little fantasy world, time is slowed down.

Time only slows down for a guardian angel when their dependant is in danger, usually indicated by the emotions they feel. If an emotion is strong enough, an angel can feel it.

When Kravitz feels fear, his own amplifies. Fear is uncharacteristic of Taako. He doesn’t get intimidated or worked up easily, and for him to be feeling fear strong enough for it to be transferred something must be seriously wrong. 

There’s a short lapse in time as Kravitz disappears from the park bench and phases into existence on the corner of a busy street, surrounded by people going to and from who knows where. They’re all more or less frozen, moving in slow motion. He follows the pointed finger of a little girl, stepping out onto the street to see Taako.

Lup seems to have pulled ahead, walking backwards as she takes what he can only imagine to be a snapchat video of Taako. Only-- her phone is falling from her hand.

A car is no more than a foot away from him, the driver behind the wheel unconscious. It’s impossible to tell what happened to the driver, but the car appears to have sped through the stoplight. Taako is the only one still in the right side of the street. 

The countdown above his head changes, the decades that Taako had been given to live draining away at light speed compared to his surroundings.

This sort of thing has happened before.

In 1942, the woman that Kravitz had been guarding was a field nurse during the second world war. She was supposed to live another thirty years, but he had watched as time slowed down as a bomb was thrown in her direction as she attempted to patch up a fallen soldier. Her countdown changed to zero just as it detonated.

It's what happens when the countdown is wrong. When the time of death is mistaken by whatever superior beings decided it.

The next few moments are a bit of a blur, even for an angel.

You hear of demonic possession quite often, or at least claims of it. While it is possible, it's rare. Not only because of how difficult it is to find a mind weak enough to slip into, but also because of the amount of power required to do so. Angels can do it too.

It's one of the few things that Kravitz has never done, but he does know how it works.

Whipping around in search of something, he spots a homeless man. It's the most promising candidate, so Kravitz takes the chance that's given to him.

He plants a hand on the top of the man's head, staring into the distant and tired eyes of the poor soul. With a little focus, Kravitz can zip through this man's life in no time, learning all about him and what he's destined to be.

Given the situation though, his focus is barely there. He can't see back, only forwards, to the alley in which he's headed, where he’ll take a nearly lethal dose of heroin. That addiction is likely what led to this particular case of homelessness.

A glance in Taako’s direction is enough to give him any extra strength he may need as he places a hand on either side of the homeless man’s face, ignoring the scratchy stubble against his palms as he squeezes his eyes shut.

Possession is rather weird, Kravitz finds. Forcing yourself into someone's mind and piloting their body.

He doesn't give himself the time to contemplate it though, opting to adjust to the new feeling while sprinting into the street and pushing Taako out of the way, time speeding back up just as he's almost out of the way of the car.

The mirror on the side hits him in the side as he stumbles forwards, and even that's enough to send him flying to the ground and wracking him with pain. 

Pain is something he's never felt before. It keeps him distracted from the car crashing into the bumper of one at the next intersection, and from the ever so slightly itchy feeling of thick dreads falling in front of his face and blocking his full sight.

Laying curled up in the middle of a street isn't what Kravitz had expected to be doing today when he followed Taako out the door, but he finds himself holding his side and groaning regardless.

Having a voice is new too. 

It sounds just like his thoughts always have, which is kind of surprising to him.

“Holy shit,” even when he's breathless, there's no mistaking Taako’s voice.

It's music to Kravitz’s ears. Something familiar and calming in this new and peculiar body. He struggles to turn his head enough to see him approaching, falling onto his knees in front of him, Lup standing just behind him.

They look worried. Both of them.

“You just saved my fuckin’ life, dude,” two pairs of wide eyes stare down at him, taking in the sight of the homeless man that just risked his life to save a stranger’s.

Taako’s hands hover over him, clearly hesitant and unsure, “Is there anything I can do?”


End file.
